Back to Basics

Hey! Hello fellow readers! Well, I'm calling this blog the "Back to Basics" because that is exactly what's transpired during the last week or so since the Boulder 70.3 Ironman. I was pretty fit leading up to the race.


Training had been going well, and I have been totally injury free for 3 months now. Physically all was going good. But mentally things have been tough for a few months in regards to some personal issues clouding my motivation and performance. This showed during the race of Boulder 70.3. Many people assume that if you're a pro athlete, everything is great. We're fit, professional and have everything sorted ready to race at every event. This is far from the truth. Talk to any of the pro's in any sport, they have all been through some kind of heart ache and stress, and without doubt they will tell you that no-matter how fit you are, you need a clear mind and focus in order to perform.

During the Boulder 70.3 I knew it was going to be a tough one. The few days leading up to it were especially difficult. To make things tougher, the field was real strong with the likes of Andy Potts, Tyler Butterfield, Tim De Boom, Matty White, Josh Rix, Ritchie Cunningham, Stevie Hackett and gun cyclist Tom Lowe. To race guys like this, you better bring your "A game".

The swim was great. We shot off with Andy and Hackett out in front. Then came Tyler followed by the pack with me in it. I exited the water with Josh Rix and Matty White, my two training buddies here in Boulder, so I was happy with that. The bike performance coming from us was insane! We were cycling harder and faster than I would have imagined. I went to the front and worked with 2 x Ironman World Champion Tim De Boom to persue the couple of athletes up the road that included Ritchie Cunningham. I was riding my Tommaso "Sixth Sense" with 808 zipps. The combination was awesome. Retul bike fit experts perfected the set up, and I felt great out there. We completed the bike course in a time of 2hrs 5mins for 90km (56miles)...thats fast.
This is where my energy ran out. With every step of the run I felt terrible. The stress and upset of recent months have left me drained. The heat was unescapable, and the legs were operating from pure will. There was nothing in the tank, and I soon realized that this was going to be a long, tough, solitary half marathon. All my buddies ran off up the road competing for their rightful position, whilst I was left behind battling with my will. I eventually reached my goal (the finish line) in 9th or 10th, but I learned something very important about myself and the lifestyle of an athlete.
Everyone trains their bodies to the peak of excellence...but most athletes can neglect training of the mind. The mind, focus and motivation can make the difference between success or failure. Every professional athlete is fit, but the one that turns up on the start line the most fresh, the most intelligently trained, the most clear minded, the most focused and the most determined will perform to the best of their ability. Life has it's ups and downs, and if you're in a lull, or a bad state, then you better make damn sure you do everything in your power to release it, and change the way you perceive it...otherwise it's "good bye" to your performance or even your career. I have gone back to the drawing board to find a fresher approach to succeeding in this sport. Sometimes it takes a wake up call to realize that things aren't on the right track. "It's never too late if you wake up in time". Hah, I just made that quote up...good hey?

I have been training hard now with Matty White, Josh Rix and Jason Shortis. It has been awesome, refreshing and inspiring. They have been instrumental in re-focusing my attention to the future and what can be achieved. I am extremely grateful for that.

So bottom line is this. It makes no difference whether you're a pro athlete, an age group athlete, Tiger Woods or anyone else. If you want to succeed in anything you do, there is really no stone that you should leave unturned. A clear mind and a "fresh start" is sometimes all you need. A lesson can be learned and a new approach can be designed from any undesired experience if you search for it..."the silver lining".

Anyway, enough of that for now. Training is back on track, the weather in Boulder is beautiful, and everything looks good! Keep a look out for my races in the near future!

Till next time ladies

Hadley

The Fall at the Peak

Hi there lads and ladies! I should have written this right after the Boulder Peak race to keep you up to date etc, but I have been so busy again getting my old car towed, working, selling my bike, getting another car, plates, insurance, training, dancing and singing. So here I am on Thurs night before the big Rohto Boulder 70.3 Ironman this weekend. Firstly, the Boulder Peak race!
It was a beautiful day at the resevoir in boulder. I had been training well, and I was feeling good, and ready to race! I started off next to Matt Reed in the swim. He swims great, so I figured if I can stay on his feet than I would be out front pack. The gun goes and we're off! We smashed out the first 400metres real quick. It felt easy to me for some reason...I was fit, and it was showing. Somehow, someone moved across me and in the mess of it all, I lost Mattys feet! Due to this I was now in the lead of the second pack...again. Bryan Rhodes was swimming great in the front pack so I had a hard job to keep the gap as small as I could. I came out of the water 4th, got the Tommaso out on the tarmac and hammered those peddles.

It took me a while to get started as Josh Rix, Matty White, Tim De Boom and Tim Reed came flying along to join me. We smashed it up Old Stage rd, one of the steepest climbs in Boulder, and a great part of the race. I could see Bryan Rhodes just ahead, and the adrenaline kicked in. I reached the peak of old stage rd, and then came the fastest down hill sections I have ever experienced in a race. I was flat out to get as much speed as possible. Josh Rix later told me that we hit 90kph down there! For all you Americans and English, that would be about 56mph! Right at the bottom of this descent is where disiaster struck for the Hadmeister.

All I can remember is the steering going wild as I gripped my hands around the brakes...I assumed that my tyre was flat...going at this speed! So I skidding down the hill, just praying to hold control until I could slow enough to come to a safer site to crash on other than the tarmac. I flew straight off the road, into the gravel, dodging all kind of boulders and rocks...goodness know how I missed them all. This is that same section where a lady died in a crash sometime ago. Anyway, I teared up the umbankment and slammed into something that eventually brought me down. I stood up in a second, and realised I was totally fine. Not even a scratch!!! I turned to see Rixy and a couple of other athletes flying by. I grabbed the bike and saw the result...a blown out tyre! I shouted "can anyone lend me a wheel?!" I trained hard, tapered well, and I just really wanted to finish the race. I knew by now I was out of money contention, and I knew I would either get a penalty or DQ'd for accepting outside assistance, but who cares? I'm an athlete, and I wanna finish this bastard race! Despite what was written by people on slow twitch about me, the real story was this:

A lady approached me on her steel sunday cruise road bike. I said "can I borrow your wheel please?" She said "sure, here you go, but how will I find you?", I said, "I'm in the pro race, so come to the end of the run finish and I'll meet you there". So as she released her quick release on her wheel, I released mine. I passed her my $1000 carbon zip as I recieved her steel rim wheel which included such flash trimmings as a reflector! Love it. So I said "thank you so much!" and off I went,on a steel wheel half inflated with a beautiful looking reflector spinning round. I finshed the course and racked the bike.

I took off fast on the run. I was catching some guys pretty quick, but all of a sudden I get a time penalty. I wasn't sure what for, but I had to stand there for 1 minute, then get going again. It transpired that he was supposed to stop me for the outside assitance and tell me that I'm DQ'd, but for some reason he didn't know this. I went for it again, desparately chasing the guys I already caught sometime earlier. I was fierce, and determined to have a good training day at least..I ran a solid 34min off the bike (not including the 1 min time penalty)so apart from the crash and the stand down, I was really pleased with my performance.

Obviously the results don't show it, but I was racing well, and I'm fit to race. I have had some bad happenings in races recently. If I'm not careful I'll be known as "Calamity James". I was just so thankful that I survived the crash unhurt...hospitals are expensive here, and if I died, I'm pretty sure my Mom would miss me...I think. Next up is Rohto Boulder 70.3 Ironman this weekend...check out my results! I hope to redeem myself this time. So thats the story of the Peak! Till next time ladies ;-)

Hey hi everybody!

Finally, I am writing another blog. I know you guys have missed me, so I appologise for being away for so long. I was hybernating like Rocky, training in the wilderness...not.

Well, first of all I should update you on my recent race in Philadelphia Life Time Fitness series race.

The week-end started off pretty bad, so I should have taken that as a sign. My car was having difficulty on Wednesday before the race maintaining its oil. So I rushed it to the mechanics to fix it. They did a great job in mending the oil pressure switch. They assured me the problem was sorted, and the car purrs like a cat! So I woke up on Friday morning, all motivated and ready to rock to the airport and catch the flight to Phily! I'm racng down the highway (on the speed limit of course)and all of a sudden someone is under the hood banging around in there...then I realised that no-one could be under the hood, I'm driving, so something must be wrong with the engine. Flying down the highway and the engine just smashes the crap out of itself! The steering has no power and the hydraulics on the brakes have gone. Fortunately, there was no cars on the margin lane and I veered off to roll to an eventual stop. So now there was no way of getting the car to the airport. I did however notice a Quality Inn some distance away. Off I ran to order a taxi to the side of Interstate 70, where my Mexican lowrider just died.
About 30 mins later the taxi arrived and I continued on my travels waving goodbye to the lowrider as I ordered a truck to come and tow it away before the Police did.
I finally got the airport, paid $55, rushed through the doors and ran to the check in just 7 mins after cut off. I pleaded with the lady to get me on board, but she just grinned at me gleefully expressing her authority. Mmm, reminds me of the Ben Stiller movie "Meet the Parents". The next flight was the next day, so I booked in for that, walked outside to get the bus home, and it was just driving off. Missed that too. So waiting out there for another hour with all my bags the bus finally came and took me back to Boulder. It was a long day, but I had to rest up for the race.

The next day was good. I left early for the bus and everything went smoothly. I arrived at Phily airport to meet my awesome homestay Kevin Peter, drove to the race site and registered with minutes to spare. I went straight back to the house...it was beautiful! Put the Tommaso "sixth sense" together and ate some food.

Next morning I felt great! We both (Kevin) cycled down to the race start to warm up...I knew I was going to have a good one. We learned that unfortunately a 40 year old man drowned the day before, so the swim leg was changed and was now a 5km run...a dualthlon. Respect to the man that drowned and his family, everyone was very saddened by this.

The gun went and we were flying! All the pro's together, male and female went blasting off down the way. At first, Tyler Butterfield, Matt Reed and myself controlled the pace...which was fast...first mile under 4:40! Then Bev Docherty came thundering past looking as though he was jogging. Geez he can really run! For the rest of the run myself, Tyler, Matty, and David Thompson all took it in turns jostling around in the front chase group. Bev was ahead. We ran to transition in under 16 mins. Jumped on the bikes and off we went. I was with the boys, Bev up ahead, then David Thompson, Tyler, Matty and me! This was awesome! I was loving the race and felt great. The next pack seemed to be a way back which was a good sign. After about 20 kms I pulled up closer to Matty about 3 meters to his right (stagger rule) and about 5 metres back. The Marshall pulled up next to me on her motorbike and started timing me. I shouted her..."I'm ok here! I'm allowed to be here". Then she pointed at me to stand down for a penalty. "What for?" I got stopped jumped off my bike and told her the rules! "I'm allowed to be there, I was more than two meters to the side...thats not drafting!" she said "no, it doesn't matter, if you're less than 10 meters behind him you have 15 seconds to overtake". "No!" I shouted, "Check your fricken rule book! As long as I'm more than 2 meters to the side I can ride there all day if I want...we checked this several times with the head ref!". She knew she was wrong then, but couldn't back down. All the guys went flying by, and I knew my opportunity had gone. After the time penalty I jumped on my bike and hammered those pedals until I heard "wait stop...come back, come back". I stopped again, turned and ran as fast as I could back to the original penalty spot...she forgot to mark my numbers aswell!!! Another minute wasted again! I said "thanks a lot! Waste of bloody money coming here...learn the rules! As the girls started cycling past, I knew that my race was over...what a waste. I span the rest of the bike course and rolled into transition fuming! I paid for flights, taxi, buses, tow away, and I get wrongfully penalised by a ref that didn't know the rules. Money down the drain! I am certain that a top 5 result could have been a reality on this day...thats prize money and a credible result taken away by a marshall. I made a complaint and actually spoke to the Marshall afterwards to remind her that she better know what she's doing as this is peoples lives and careers she has an influence over.
So I hung out at the tent eating and laughing with my pals, with the recent anguish and determination to smash out the next race as best as I can...Boulder Peak simmering under the surface.

So, the good news however is that I am beginning to feel as though I can run ok without getting injured. It has taken a while to get the last injury sorted, but I think it's getting there. More good news is that it's summer and racing in this heat is great...not to mention the girls!

Till next time

Thanks for reading

Hadmeister

Good morning comrades!

Well the race season is basically underway, and most of my buddies will be returning to Boulder very soon!
This time of year is always a little nerve racking. Everyone is going great right now...already! For example, Crowie wins Aussie Long Course Champs, Leon Griffin 2nd place. Matty Reed fit as ever has podiumed twice in the last three weeks! Miami and Oceanside! Brad Kahlefeldt wins Mooloolaba ITU World Cup in Australia. The season has kicked off, and these guys are ready! Me? Well I am just getting there. After a season of injury last year, to consistent training throughout the winter months here in Boulder. Things are on track, and I have just got myself a coach by the name of "Phil Cutti". He's a lab professor from Stanford University, so I'm pretty confident he knows his stuff!
I have been consistent with my long 25-30km runs. Run sessions on the treadmill, and swimming throughout the winter.

I also got my bike new "Sixth Sense" TT bike from Tommaso! It is cool, and smooth! My cycling performances have dramatically picked up in training, but I think thats most likely down to the excitement of having a new bike kitted out with the top line "Profile Design" bars...or is it? Maybe it is just faster!
Whatever the reason, I'm looking forward to racing on it.

Well, I am planning on racing Galveston 70.3 in three weeks. It is a toss up between that race, or St.Croix 70.3 a week later. Of course St.Croix is a prestigious race, one of my favorites, and is in the Caribbean! But it's also really expensive to get to. It's a long season coming up, and I feel the excitement in the air! Oh I love race season!

Anyway, hope everyone is well, and speak to you soon.

Hadley

Hey! How is everybody? Things here in Boulder have been good. Valentines day was great. I was so romantic as usual, and to top it off I got sponsorships from my favorite sports companies. I have waited and approached my top rated product companies, and I was so happy when I got the response I wanted. So first off came Jack and Adams bike store in Texas...these guys are amazing! Then Tommaso bikes (beautiful TT bike), Newton shoes...which I absolutely love I am running better than ever before. Their technology is fantastic, and when you research and understand it, you'll never go back to other shoes. Accelerade, Endurox, Forze from PHL. This nutrition in my opinion is the best I have ever used. I started using it years ago when I found it in Aus. I won't use anything else>. Then came 2XU. I really love everything they produce. The wetsuits are fantastic. I realised that when I borrowed a friend of mines (Leon Griffin) wetsuit for Calgary 70.3...I came 3rd out of the water. Then, I am pleased to announce that Rudy Project are my sunglasses and helmet sponsor...have you seen the new TT wingspan? Need I say more?

I am very fortunate that I only wrote to the sponsors with the products that I have complete %100 confidence in and no others. I like to train and race with the best equipment possible. I am so fortunate and appreciative for these companies to have faith in my ability.

So what else is new? I have been sick for a week now! Some virus tore it up through Bouler, and I was one of it's victims!

So hence I have been lying around for 3 days doing nothing but cleaning and moaning. It's unfortunate really cos training was going great until Monday. I was smashing up the gym, tearing up the roads and roughing up the treadmills...

Even my new Newton shoes thought "Crowies" feet were in them...sorry guys, just my little things. Anyway, I'm all motivated and itchy to get rid of this cold, and then back to the miles. I saw Crowie and Griffo had awesome races in Geelong, and it just makes me realise that the season is creeping up on us fast. There's work to do.

Oh, also...who saw Chris Lieto and Armstrong race the other day in Kona? That was awesome! Way to go for Chris, that time was amazing and even though he is the best cyclist in triathlon, I believe he demonstrated how tough triathletes can be. http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2010/02/18/twitter-leads-to-lance-armstrong-vs-chris-lieto-in-hawaii/ Until next time, Hadley

Saturday morning "Team Hadley" ride

Hi There!

So just keeping you up to date with the training. This morning was the "Team Hadley" Saturday morning ride. It wasn't my idea to call it that, but some people have said that Julie Dibens insisted that it was only right to name it after me...after all it is my ride, and I am in charge. So the group consisted of myself, my lady friend, Heidi Spees, Julie Dibens (3x World Champion), Tim O'Donnell (ITU Long course World Champ), Nikki Butterfield (pro cyclist), and Greg Remaly (pro triathlete).

If you think that cycling with women automatically means that it's going to be an easy ride..well then you're wrong. I have no shame in admitting that Julie put the hurt on us today.

These women are strong, and they don't feel pain like we do. Or they just don't moan like us. Nikki and Julie were pushing it all the way round at the front of our pack. One guy flew past us, only to realise his mistake 10 minutes later as the girls pulled us forward, caught him, and dropped him like a hot stone.

I had the ego, stupidity and the arrogance to cycle side by side with TO (Tim O'Donnell)at the front with Julie on my wheel as we approached the climb up to Carter Lake. For those of you that don't know this, the climb is a beast and a common time trial for the cyclists here. I thought I was being clever by upping the pace before the climb started. I assumed that as soon we hit the steep section, Julie's power could not match mine. Imagine my surprise as I stood out of the saddle to power on up the mountain, only to glare at this guy power smoothly past me...oh hang on, thats not a guy...thats Julie Dibens!!! "Oh bollocks!" I thought to myself as I immediatley jumped on her wheel...I'm getting chicked!!! TO had more pride than I (and he's a strong cyclist, so am I but...mmm) and managed to tackle her all the way up to Carter Lake. Me? I realised that Julie must have been cheating somehow...maybe I had a flat, or something to that affect. So I let them go, I was just taking it easy today anyway...not, but thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it damn it! I have come to the conclusion that Julie should be called "Julian Dibens", as I really don't know any other woman cyclist that ride that strong, and that fast.

You might think after the climb that that was the end of it. No, think again. We still had 2hours left of our ride. So Julie took great plesure in twisting the knife in us.

Well fortunatley, I managed to make it home after a 121km time trial! Awesome ride, and just what I needed.

Thank you to "Team Hadley" for accompanying me on this ride haha!

Speak to you soon!

Hadley's training

Hello everyone!

I know what you're thinking, "another blog...two in two weeks??" Yes, I haven't been very productive on keeping up to date on writing my blogs in the past. This is because it has been winter and not much in terms of triathlon has been happening. But since I have moved in with Greg 'G - Force' Remaly, I noticed just how often he writes on his blog...twice a day! So with guilt as my motivator, I am writing one tonight.

Hadleys holiday

Hey Everyone!

New story today! I haven't written for ages so I thought it's about time I gave you all a quick run down on whats been happening here.

Well, Christmas...I'll start from there. Unfortunately me and lady went our separate ways just a mere few days before the big holiday. So I ended up moving in with my good friends Julie Dibens and Mike Dibens. It was great to move in there. I had the whole basement to myself with my own flatscreen TV! Awesome! Mike and Julie went off skiing so my elation of hanging out with them and drowning my sorrows was short lived. So I spent Xmas on my lonesome and the following week leading up to News Years eve.

Things were about to change though as I went for my routine workout at FAC. This real tall 6ft 5ins guy walked around the corner. I recognised him from the swim earlier that morning. He introduced himself as non other than Greg "G-Force" Remaly...which incidently was a self made nickname by the "G-force" himself. I actually though he was joking when he tried to convince me to call him by that name. My face them dropped in amazment as I then realised he was serious. HAHAHA! 29 year old super hero!
Anyway, despite the incredulous immaturity that I just witnessed, we agreed in our desparation to find an apartment to move in together.
So a week after we started our search, we found a place on Thunderbird drive. Only a very short distance from the FAC training center. Beautiful.
We moved in a week after that. For anybody who is interested in real cheap furniture, Savers is the place to go! We got two couches for 65 bucks!!! Awesome.

Anyway, I'm interrupting my awesome story to tell you about another one. I had some greats news. My friend Lars Finanger put me forward to Tommaso Bikes for sponsorship. I was real grateful for this, I emailed them back as soon as possible. We set up a meeting and before I knew it was in the Randell Scott's office looking at the brand new Tommaso TT bike. I was soo impressed with how it looked, and how light it was. We chatted for an hour and discussed a contract for me to race for Tommaso. I was elated and excited with this opportunity. If you guys aren't familiar with the brand, then watch out for me racing around Boulder on this black mean machine in my black and yellow kit! Mans colours!
I should be getting my new "mean machine" bike at the end of March. Wacth out for it at any races or training days you see me at. You'll for sure be as impressed as I am.
To top off the excitement I was also informed that I made a front cover on Triathlon Plus UK magazine. That was huge for me. I was so excited! I am also poster boy for the Highlands Ranch running series! So everything is going well.

Anyway, so, to come back to the original story. Gregmeister Remaly and myself have been living it up in luxury in our bachelor pad. He's great to live with, despite our very different appearences and upringing...I am good looking, Greg isn't. I am only 5ft 8ins, he is 6ft 5ins, I am undeniably intelligent, Greg isn't. That was just a few to begin with. No I'm just kidding.
Anyway, I'm going to go swimming training now. Speak soon, and take care!

Hadley